Catalogue (The Niederwildungen Altarpiece, The Dortmund Altarpiece, Sts Dorothea and Odilia, St.Paul with Reinold, The Froendenberg Altarpiece, The Froendenberg Painter's Madonna and Child, The St Nicholas Panel, The Bielefeld Altarpiece, The Berswordt Altarpiece, The Warendorf Altarpiece, The Darup Altarpiece, The Isseldhorst Altarpiece, The Golden Panel from Lueneburg)

Notes to Text and Catalogue

Appendices (The Marriage Contract 1394, The Niederwildungen Altarpiece Chronicle, Confraternity Service Regulations, Bull of Pope Boniface IX of November 1403, Contract for an Altarpiece of the Order of St John)

Bibliography

List of Illustrations

Index

Reviewers' comments

There can be no doubt of the need for a serious study of the work of Conrad von Soest. The two altarpieces in Dortmund and Bad Wildungen signed with his name are among the most beautiful of German paintings from the early fifteenth century, and other works long connected with his oeuvre... show an elegance and delight in colour ... ... to emphasise the sophisticated, European nature of the art of Conrad von Soest.' (Burlington Magazine) ..

'The monograph is to be recommended not only to art historians but also to scholars in painting techniques painting conservators and historians of the Hanseatic League. The pleasure of reading this text is increased by the careful editorial standards.' (Artium Quaestiones)

'..elegant and serious book` (Arts Newspaper)

'This is an important book for a number of reasons. ...Dr Corley is to be congratulated on making this important artist's work more accessible..' (The Art Book)

'Doing for Germany what was long ago done for Italy and the Netherlands, this impressive volume presents a coherent survey of the sizeable body of painting produced in late medieval Cologne. Employing the painstaking formal analysis and attention to materials typical of the Courtauld Instititute at the University of London, UK (where she took her PhD in art history), Corley examines and describes a large number of paintings, proposing areas of influence, dates, schools, and attributions of them....The patrons of these paintings, the process by which they commissioned works, and the relation of the patron to the artists workshop are subjects of the initial chapters.....' ( Book News, Portland, OR)

'....Corley provides a comprehensive survey of artistic production in the city during the two centuries of its greatest success. Beginning with fourteenth -century exponents of the so-called "courtly style", characterized by its concern with decorative surface pattern and delight in costly materials and delicate tooling, Corley offers a chronology of artists and works. Her account devotes due attention to the interaction of native and foreign artists and highlights in particular the impact of Netherlandish painting during the second half of the fifteenth century. Stylistic analyses are supported by recent technical data and are enlivened by a delightful attention to visual detail. Her survey is informed throughout by discussion of the social, economic, political and religious context within which the works were produced. Corley performed an invaluable service in making not just the paintings themselves, but also documentation in the form of guild regulations and patrons' biographies available to readers....' (Times Literary Supplement)

'Corley ... has a breathtaking knowledge on the issues of technology of painting ... This is a very scholarly and solid piece of writing, which will undoubtedly be of use to many students of Northern art. It makes more accessible ... a wealth of material that will enrich our discussion of fifteenth-century art...' (Parergon)

'This book ..traces the development of later medieval painting in Cologne over two centuries… The narrative is divided into ten chapters, of which the first three give a useful overview of the social, economic, political climate in which the paintings under discussion were produced, while the remaining seven, arranged in chronological order, provide an authoritative account of the paintings themselves, focusing both on broader stylistic trends as well as the oeuvre of individual artists. The chapters are completed by a historiographical epilogue and four useful appendices featuring translations of guild regulations, short biographies.. and a location handlist of the paintings…This study represents an impressive achievement.' (Newsletter of the American 'Historians of Netherlandish Art')